Faced with the daunting prospect of succeeding Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, the 20-year-old Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate drove the same chassis to the same result Gordon accomplished last year—the pole position for the Feb. 21 Daytona 500 (on FOX at 1 p.m. ET).

In the money round of qualifying for the Great American Race, Elliott toured 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 45.845 seconds (196.314 mph), edging Matt Kenseth (196.036 mph) by .065 seconds for the top starting spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series opener.

Elliott and Kenseth are the only drivers whose positions for the Daytona 500 are now locked in. The balance of the field will be filled and ordered in Thursday night’s 150-mile Can-Am Duel qualifying races.

"I've never qualified on the front row here before, so that certainly takes off some pressure for later in the week," Kenseth said.

"This is a very, very cool day," Elliott said after Earnhardt, the last qualifier, failed to knock him off the pole. "I don't know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500.

"So this is very cool. I think the big thing is just the team and the Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort they put into these cars and it's nothing special I did. It's really what kind of work they did this offseason to make it happen.

"Jeff (Gordon) knows all about that and I just wanted to give a big thanks to NAPA Auto Parts and all of our partners at HMS on this No. 24 car. This is very special and a great way to start the season."

Elliott's first Sprint Cup pole was a milestone in many other respects. At 20 years, 2 months and 17 days, he is the youngest-ever winner of a Daytona 500 pole, supplanting Austin Dillon (23 years, 9 months 27 days in 2014).

Should Elliott win the race next Sunday, he would displace Trevor Bayne as the youngest winner of the event often referred to as NASCAR's Super Bowl.

This was the 10th Daytona 500 pole for Hendrick Motorsports and the third for the No. 24 Chevrolet, with Gordon winning the previous two in 1999 and 2015. Elliott completed the fourth father/son combination to win poles for the 500, joining Richard and Kyle Petty, Bobby and Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

In fact, Earnhardt Jr. was fastest in the first round of Sunday's qualifying session, posting a lap at 195.788 mph, but he slipped to third in the final round and will start on the outside of the front row in the first Can-Am Duel.

Kyle Busch posted the fourth fastest lap in the final round and will start from the second spot in the second Duel. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jimmie Johnson were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the final round.

The qualifying times of the Nos. 4 and 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets, driven by Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers, were disallowed after NASCAR discovered track bar infractions during post-qualifying inspection. Those cars will start from the rear in their respective Duels.

RELATED: Nos. 4, 14 fail post-Daytona qualifying inspection

Ryan Blaney powered the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford to a seventh in Sunday's time trials. As the fastest "open" car (required to qualify on speed), he is locked into the Daytona 500. Matt DiBenedetto, the second fastest of the open cars (and 24th overall) also is locked into the field.

Related: Blaney, DiBenedetto lock up Daytona spots

The No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. failed to post a time after NASCAR inspectors noticed that one of the roof flaps was out of compliance. The car was on the five-minute clock at the time and the problem could not be corrected in time to make a qualifying run. As a consequence, Truex will start from the rear of the field in the second Can-Am Duel.

Joey Logano's got a whole lot more bread today. The 24-year old driver, once known as "Sliced Bread" (as in, the greatest thing since), stayed near the front of the pack at the 57th running of the Daytona 500 for most of the day before winning the Great American Race. After taking the lead on the 191st lap, Logano held on through a finish that ended under caution after a wreck on the final lap of a green-white-checkered finish. Now he and Tean Penske gets their payday, with first place worth $1,581,453.

Rounding out the top three, Kevin Harvick earned $1,157,470 with a second-place finish and Dale Earnhardt Jr. $857,245 in third. The purse for the race totaled $18,042,556.

Hendrick Motorsports had a successful day -- until the end. Jeff Gordon, starting on the pole as he began his final NASCAR season, led more laps than anyone at 87. The plummet near the end meant he took home $594,801. Teammates Jimmie Johnson (39) and Earnhardt (32) added another 71 laps in front. But none of the drivers could catch Logano on the restart after a wreck by Justin Allgaier with three laps to go forced the field to stand still under red flag for seven minutes.

The number 3 has returned to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year and in a big way. Sprint Cup rookie Austin Dillon, who drives the 3, won the pole for the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Dillon, who drives for his grandfather Richard Childress, won the pole with a speed of 196.019 mph. Martin Truex Jr., driving for Furniture Row Racing, qualified second for the 500 with a speed of 195.852 mph. Sunday’s qualifying only set the front row for the Daytona 500. The rest of the field will be set in the Duel races on Thursday. 49 drivers are entered for the 500, which means six drivers will go home after the Duels on Thursday.
Dillon, who has won championships in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks and Nationwide Series, moves up to the Cup Series this year with lots of pressure. He drive the 3 car, which was made famous by Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time Cup champion, who died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Although Dillon has raced the number 3 in the Trucks and Nationwide Series, the Daytona 500 will be the first time that the number 3 has raced in the Cup Series since Earnhardt’s death.
“It’s almost like a storybook,” Childress told USA Today after Dillon won the pole. “You dream about things and you create things. But to actually bring it back, what better way to start it off?”
It’s the second year in a row that a rookie has won the pole for the Daytona 500. Last year Danica Patrick won the pole for the 500, becoming the first women to win the pole for the Great American Race. Patrick and Dillon are the first rookies to win the 500 pole since Loy Allen in 1994. However pole winners hardly win the 500. The last pole winner to win the 500 was Dale Jarrett in 2000, according to Fox Sports .
Dillon became the fourth driver to put the number 3 on the pole for the 500. Buddy Baker, Ricky Rudd, and Earnhardt are the other drivers to put the number 3 on the 500 pole, the Associate Press notes. Tony Stewart, Patrick, and Bobby Labonte will have to start at the rear of the 500 no matter where they qualify due to changing their engines. Dillon’s pole was the sixth pole for Richard Childress Racing, which have came with different drivers.

Alex Jordan

im 28 years old. I graduated from Marist College with a Bachelors degree in Communications/Sports Communications in 2011.